Federal Outreach
A ‘One Community’ Agenda
How We Can Create Great Places for Our Military to Live, Train and Defend our Nation
Major challenges at home and around the world remind us that the fence line surrounding our military bases does not matter when tackling many of the big issues facing our military, service members and their families. It is only when communities and the military are working as one, that we make a difference – this is the One Community Policy Agenda. The Association of Defense Communities believes the components of its One Community agenda will foster a new level of military-community collaboration that can tackle four key issues facing our nation and national defense:
Improve Military Family Quality of Life for Our Service Members and Families in Collaboration with Communities
Service members and military families deserve to live in communities that provide high-quality services, including schools, housing, social services and childcare. We must support communities and military families by:
- Establishing clear and equitable community and installation expectations for measuring quality of life and resources to address these challenges.
- Promoting joint military-community efforts to ensure military families have access to high-quality schools, childcare, healthcare, affordable housing, and special needs programs.
- Identifying and promoting innovative efforts and resources to make service members feel welcomed and valued in every community that becomes their military home.
Invest in the People Who Make Our Military Work
The people who support our installations, which are essential to our nation’s defense, are more important than ever. We support everyone from the cyber expert and ship builder to the primary school student who will become a future member of the military or workforce. We need to invest in our current and future defense workforce by:
- Working collaboratively at the local and national level to understand and plan for the evolving expectations and capabilities of the defense sector workforce
- Promoting military, community and industry efforts to develop training and education programs in K-12 schools (e.g., DODEA grant programs, STARBASE, Cyber Patriot, FIRST Robotics and other STEM programs)
- Investing in defense workforce development initiatives that ensure we have a skilled workforce for the future (e.g., the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS), Defense Manufacturing Communities Support Program and other DoD programs)
- Leveraging community and state resources to support military spouse hiring and training initiatives and DoD’s overall recruitment needs.
Invest in Infrastructure and Programs that Support Missions and Families
Our military and our families rely on a complex network of roads, buildings, facilities, utilities, and land – both on and off base – to support critical training, power-projection platforms and the everyday needs of our families. We need to prioritize investment in our nation’s defense infrastructure by:
- Maintaining funding and making permanent the authority for the Defense Community Infrastructure Program (DCIP) and ensure the program has sufficient flexibility to address the dynamic needs of defense communities.
- Promoting sustained investment in our installations through a stable, robust military construction program that replenishes any redirected funds.
- Enhancing the value of public-public (P4) and public-private partnerships (P3) to maximize a full range of tools that leverage resources to improve the efficiency and resilience of defense infrastructure.
- Prioritizing DoD’s focus on infrastructure and resilience appointing a new Assistant Secretary of Defense for Installations, Energy & Environment.
- Strengthening the ongoing collaboration between military and community by supporting and enhancing the role of the DoD Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation
(OLDCC).
Advance Climate Resilience for Installations and Communities through Collaboration
Sea level rise, extreme weather events and other climate-related issues are having real impacts on our installations, defense communities and national security. Responding to this threat must be coordinated across the fence line, regionally and nationally by:
- Creating a coordination point within the Office of the Secretary of Defense to connect DoD, the services, and communities on climate change issues, ideally through OLDCC.
- Continuing funding and support for the Military Installation Sustainability (MIS) program.
- Embracing programs, including DCIP, that support joint installation-community climate resilience planning and infrastructure projects.
- Developing program benchmarks that are clear, quantifiable, and objective, and provide a baseline measurement of DCIP and MIS program performance.
The Defense Community Support Program
Supporting community-based programs that enhance military quality of life
Building on the successful models used to connect resources between DOD and communities, Congress is currently considering legislation that would establish the Defense Communities Support Program, a new authority for DOD to provide matching funds to support local and state led efforts to focused on critical issues like childcare, education, military spouse and veteran skills training and employment, food insecurity, housing, and health care.
The program would be open to states, counties, municipalities and regional entities. Funds would cover operations expenses such as personnel, equipment, organizational and workforce development, licensing, regulatory fees, research, outreach, training, program development, and educational and marketing materials. This program would not support physical infrastructure or facility maintenance.
To help show our support of this exciting new legislation, ADC is looking to collect examples of local and/or state led quality of life efforts that could benefit from a program like this.
How Can You Help?
Please fill out the form below and identify current quality of life or workforce development projects in your community that are, in at least some part, funded (or could be funded) by a local or state affiliated organization (City, State, County, Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Agency, etc.). Another option is to identify a potential project that your community and/or state is considering supporting that could be enhanced if there was a matching DOD grant available.
Defense Communities Caucus
Defined by a mission of force and family, readiness and resiliency, our installations and communities are the foundation of our military’s competitive edge. The strength of our bases and communities are forever linked through a dynamic and ever evolving partnership. The Defense Communities Caucus, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, provides a unified voice for that evolving partnership, and works to ensure that defense communities and military installations have the support they need to serve the ones who protect us.
Senate Caucus Co-Chairs
Sen. Jerry Moran (KS)
Sen. Gary Peters (MI)
House Caucus Co-Chairs
Rep. Joe Wilson (SC-2)
Rep. Jason Crow (CO-6)
Federal Outreach and Advisory Council
Co-Chairs
Daniel Rhoades
21st Century Partnership for Warner Robins AFB (GA)
Jill M McClune
Aberdeen Army Alliance (MD)
ADC Board Liaison
Sal Nodjomian
City of Niceville (FL)
Councilmembers
Brittany Smart
University of Alaska Fairbanks (AK)
Mike Ward
Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce (AL)
Daniel Mann
Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority (AR)
Ryan Lee
City of Glendale (AZ)
Sandy Person
Solano EDC / Travis Community Consortium (CA)
Fred Meurer
Monterey Bay Defense Alliance (CA)
Misty Perez
Port of Heuneme (CA)
Keith C Klaehn
Colorado Springs Defense Mission Task Force (CO)
Debi Graham
Greater Pensacola Chamber (FL)
Joel Blockton
Cobb County Chamber of Commerce (GA)
Vera Topasna
Office of the Governor of Guam (GU)
Kimberly Huth
St. Clair County, Director of Military Affairs (IL)
Kelli Pendleton
Ft. Campbell Strong Defense Alliance (KY)
Randy Fuss
Sourcewell Minnesota (MN)
Jamie Miller
Mississippi Development Authority (MS)
Greg Doyon
City of Great Falls/Montana Defense Alliance (MT)
Patricia A Harris
North Carolina Military Affairs Commission (NC)
Tom Ford
Grand Forks County (ND)
Gracie Lynn
Grand Forks County (ND)
Brian Dicken
Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce (OH)
Michael Gessel
Dayton Development Coalition (OH)
Joseph Garrity
Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (OH)
Josh Prest
Eastern Ohio Military Affairs Commission (OH)
Mike Cooper
State of Oklahoma (OK)
Mary Graham
South Carolina Military Base Taskforce (SC)
Robert Timm
City of Box Elder (SD)
Keith Sledd
Heart of Texas Defense Alliance (TX)
Glenn Barham
Sheppard Military Affairs Committee (TX)
William McKnight
Alamo Area Council of Governments (TX)
Brian Garrett
Utah Department of Veterans and Military Affairs (UT)
Mark R Shepherd
Clearfield City (UT)
Stacie Henn
Prince William County, Dept of Economic Development (VA)
Rick Dwyer
Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance (VA)
Don Anderson
City of Lakewood (WA)
FOAC Advisor
Matthew Herrman
The Roosevelt Group (DC)
ADC General Counsel
George Schlossberg
Kutak Rock (DC)
For more information about FOAC, email Matt Borron at matt@defensecommunities.org